In an historical perspective, two converging trends in psychological and sociological family research can be distinguished. In psychology, the field of
family socialization and development has continually progressed from an individual-centered to a family-centered approach. This line of reasoning can be
traced from the study of the individual per se, to unidirectional parental (especially maternal) influences on child behavior, to bidirectional dyadic parentchild interaction, to the study of relationships of higher order family constellations, including both parents, siblings, and grandparents.